Northern Territory’s federal MPs reduced from two to one by Australian Electoral Commission

THE Northern Territory will lose half of its vocal power in the federal House of Representatives, with the Australian Electoral commission reducing the number of seats from two to just one

Lingiari MP Warren Snowdon, and Solomon MP Luke Gosling will continue to represent their electorates despite the NT’s federal seats being reduced from two to just one

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THE NT will lose half of its vocal power in the federal House of Representatives after the Australian Electoral Commission reduced its seat allocation from two to one on Friday.

The reduction applies immediately for the purpose of enrolment but members elected at the 2019 federal election, Luke Gosling and Warren Snowdon, will continue to represent their electorates.

Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said the decision was made on the most recent official population figures published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

“The figures show the population has increased sufficiently to result in Victoria increasing its entitlement by one seat,” he said.

“At the same time, the determination of entitlement requires Western Australia and the Northern Territory to each decrease by one seat.

“Redistribution committees will be appointed and the public will soon be invited to make suggestions and comments on matters affecting the drawing of federal electoral boundaries and the naming of electoral divisions.”

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Mr Snowdon said he was “not surprised” by the development.

“But the matter can be addressed and remediated very quickly by the Morrison Government agreeing to support the private members bill that would guarantee the Territory a minimum of two seats which is supported not only by Labor but also by CLP Senator Sam McMahon,” he said.

“It would be an absolute travesty if the Morrison Government did not support this bill.”

NT Senator Malarndirri McCarthy — who has sponsored a private Senator’s bill to block the change — said the “continued erosion” of Territory voices in Canberra was “not good enough”.

“I urge Territorians to make the time to put in submissions to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) to support our current status of two lower house seats,” she said.

“It is imperative the JSCEM holds a hearing in Darwin so the voices of Territorians can be heard, as well as in Alice Springs to hear from regional voters.”

Country Liberals Senator Sam McMahon joined Ms McCarthy in urging Territorians to have their say on the private Senator’s bill.

“Tasmania covers an area of about 68,000 square kilometres and has five MPs in the House of Representatives, as well as twelve Senators — the population of Tasmania is approximately 515,000,” she said.

“If you compare the NT to Tasmania you will see they have more than four times the Federal representation Territorians have, yet their population is not much more than double our own.”

Mr Gosling said legislating two seats for the Territory was “common sense” and welcomed bipartisanship on the issue.

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“A single seat for the Territory will mean a quarter of a million Territorians represented by a single MP in an electorate six times the size of Victoria,” he said.

“This is about fair representation for Territorians and it’s encouraging to see support from Senator Sam McMahon and Nationals senators.”